Serotonin

Question: serotonin??? are they supposed to be heels or faces ok for those of you who dont know HEELS = BAD GUYS FACES = GOOD GUYS

Answer: Serotonin(Matt Bentley, Kazarian and Johnny Devine) are heels they are managed by Raven but they are teasing a break up after Raven attacked them after they won a match during the dark match before Against All Odds.

Question: How does serotonin carry a chemical message if it never left the pre syanptic cell? If your using a SSRI's(Selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors) or a MAO's (monoamine oxidase inhibitors) then serotonin re uptake will be blocked. I assume that serotonin will then be left 'floating' within the synapse. My question is how does the serotonin carry a chemical message if it never left the pre syanptic cell with the original electrical message?

Answer: The chemical message that serotonin conveys is generated post-synaptically.

Question: How does serotonin get converted to melatonin at night? In the human body, serotonin gets converted to melatonin when our eyes experience darkness at night. But how and where does this happen in the body? And does more serotonin during the day = more melatonin at night? In the morning, does melatonin get converted to serotonin? Thanks.

Answer: Hi Steve. I'm not sure what you are actually looking for, but I can tell you the biochemical pathway that converts serotonin to melatonin is a two step process. Serotonin must be methylated and acetylated to convert it to melatonin. I don't think the process is reversible, so melatonin is most likely metabolized and excreted, thus reducing the brain levels of it. The light/dark cycle is the 'trigger' for melatonin synthesis in the pineal gland. Light inhibits melatonin synthesis and darkness stimulates its synthesis. Note that much more melatonin is synthesized in the gut (about 400 times more) than in the brain. So, I don't know if I have adequately answered your questions, but I've shared what I know on this issue. Best wishes and good luck. p.s. I found this review paper that might be helpful for you: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2843929/?tool=pubmed

Question: Are there natural sources of serotonin and/or non-prescription ways to create or retain it the brain? I'm not lookin for herbal remedies that elevate mood, just want to know if you can generate or maintain serotonin levels within your own body somehow (example excercise?) and/or if you can eat foods (not herbal supplements) that provide or create or maintain serotonin levels.

Answer: Exercise. meditation, cognitive therapy are my ways/

Question: How can you increase the Serotonin and Dopamine levels in your brain and rest of your body W/O drugs? How can you increase the Serotonin and Dopamine levels in your brain and rest of your body W/O drugs? How can you increase the levels of Serotonin and Dopamine your body produces naturally, with food or other things rather than using prescription drugs? I would be willing to use natural supplements and over the counter drugs to.

Answer: Exercise, including a lot of sex.

Question: How long does it take for serotonin levels to increase after starting medication? Unfortunately someone in my family was recently diagnosed with low serotonin levels. They have been on medication for a little over a week now and I don't really notice much of a change in them. It's pretty heart breaking seeing them go through it. They have lost all their confidence and it's effecting my whole family. Not that we wouldn't see them through it anyways. Anyone have any info, advice, experiences, etc?

Answer: Side effects can be seen sometimes right away, but effects on mood and anxiety can take a month to a month and a half. Sometimes a higher dosage needs to be tried too and still, if no luck, another medication. It is also important for this person to start some form of talk therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy seems to be best for depression and anxiety, of course, if they are severely depressed CBT might not help as much until the medication starts helping with some of the depressive symptoms. There is really no such thing as low seritonin levels as a diagnosis. The theory is that depression or anxiety is related to seritonin levels, but the diagnosis is depression or anxiety which is much more complex than "my brain chemistry is simply screwed up" there are environmental and psychological factors that play into mental illness and that is why these types of disorders are best treated with therapy alone or with a combination of therapy and medication. Yes, therapy is expensive, but perhaps private insurance will cover it or the family may be willing to help out? CBT is a short course of therapy, it's not years or even months, something like 6 or 8 sessions should do it.

Question: How does blocking the re-uptake of serotonin increase the amount of serotonin available for neurotransmission? I understand that SSRIs work by inhibiting the process of recycling serotonin but if the reuptake is blocked does this force the cell to produce more serotonin? If not, it seems like enhancing the reuptake would be the goal so that there would be more of the neurotransmitter available for the next signal. Can any medical professionals help me understand this process?

Answer: The auto-receptor is what signals to the axon terminal to stop releasing serotonin. If it's blocked, the signal doesn't get sent. So the axon terminal continues to release serotonin more than it typically would. Increasing the re-uptake as you suggested would only cause more to be taken out of the synapse, and less to be available for the receiving dendrite. The serotonin that is taken back into the axon terminal by the re-uptake is either returned to vesicle sacks, or destroyed by the MAO enzyme.

Question: What is the link between serotonin and depression? What are diagnostic tests done to find out serotonin levels? Are there any tests to find out the levels of serotonin ?

Answer: Yes you can test for serotonin levels, however you have realize that the vast majority of serotonin in our body is *not* in our brain, and is not responsible for any CNS function. Most of our serotonin is found in the GI tract, which regulates such function. The link between serotonin and depression is that serotonin the the brain regulates mood (among many other things).. so a deficiency or over production would cause an undesirable change in behavior. The tests available for serotonin are going to track overall levels of serotonin and not be accurate indicators for CNS serotonin, much less gauge the amount the receptors responsible for mood regulation have. We are still at diagnosing specifically from behavior with trial and error approach -- eventually I believe we will have definitive testing, but right now we don't even have a reference range for serotonin and depression.

Question: What is the relationship between Serotonin and Dopamine? I'm attempting to study my own depression, but I need some information before I can continue my progress. What is the relationship between Serotonin and Dopamine?

Answer: Just effect different parts of the brain. Plain and simple. One is more active, one is more passive. That is the best way to explain it simply.

Question: How can i tell if my serotonin levels are normal? i've been feeling fairly unemotional for the last 6 months or so.. i smoke weed pretty regularly, i've read a lot things that go both ways on marijuana's affect on serotonin levels. either way though i've began smoking much less. i've been dealing with a lot potentially stressful things, however i don't really stress about them. i just don't feel happy, and it is beginning to become very distracting. thanks for any help.

Answer: if your serotonin levels are low you may feel lethargic, tired, depressed, moody... you may want to see a doctor and maybe be put on an antidepressant if your doctor feels necessary.

Question: What are the opposite chemicals of serotonin and dopamine for making you sad? If dopamine & serotonin are brain chemicals responsible for making you happy then what chemicals are responsible for making you sad? theirs got to be a chemical responsible for dysphoria or extreme pain.

Answer: Low levels of dopamine and serotonin are in some cases responsible for depression. That is why some anti-depressants are re-uptake inhibitors for these. They increase the levels of dopamine and serotonin in the synapses.

Question: What are some natural herbs and products to heal severely depleted serotonin? I need them. My serotonin is only 1/3 the optimal levels.

Answer: L-tryptophan and 5-htp are both amino acid building blocks for serotonin and can be found in health stores. 5-htp is a step up from tryptophen so I'd recommend it more. It often helps in raising serotonin. SAM-e is also involved in the biosynthesis of several hormones and neurotransmitters including serotonin and dopamine. I don't know how effective it is in raising serotonin in particular but is widely used as a natural antidepressant and is also found in health stores. Diet can also be helpful in controling serotonin levels. Serotonin is generally increased by a higher carb, lower protein diet. as opposed to a high protein low carb diet which seems to increase dopamine but lower serotonin. Vitamin B3 is also important because tryptophen which the body gets from food and uses to make serotonin is also used to make B3 and other proteins. So I'd recommend good nutrition and possibly a good multivitamin. Exposure to sunlight also helps.

Question: How long does it take for your body to stop making serotonin on antidepressant ? I know if you take it too long, your body stops making its own serotonin, but how long is that? In psychology class, our teacher told us that your body slows the production of serotonin since the medicine is increasing it.

Answer: There is plenty of misleading information on this question. First, antidepressants affect brain serotonin (that's why they are prescribed). However, your teacher is misinterpreting basic neurophysiology and neuropharmacology. Clinically depressed patients have a decrease in the functional activity of monoamines, including serotonin (the other monoamines include norepinephrine and dopamine). It is pretty clear from the last 30+ years of clinical research that depression is directly related to serotonin in one of several ways: either not enough serotonin is being produced and/or released, or there is down regulation of serotonin receptor density or down regulation of serotonin receptor sensitivity. Common classes of antidepressants (e.g., SSRIs, MAOIs) remedy this by increasing the functional activity of the serotonin system. This is accomplished different ways but basically they each turn off the brain's natural turning off mechanism to make whatever serotonin is available more effective. Here's how: Normally, many neurochemicals when released from neurons make brief contact with nearby receptors which in turn either cause an increase or decrease in release of some other neurochemical stored in that neuron. This process is often turned off by something called reuptake (wherein the neurotransmitter is removed from the synapes so it cannot continue to interact with receptors). This ballet occurs millions of times a second in the brain. SSRIs block the reuptake (removal) of serotonin. If reuptake back into the neuron is blocked, it allows more serotonin-receptor interaction. Similarly, MAOIs accomplish the same end result but in a different way. Another way the brain turns off serotonin (and some other neurotransmitters) is through enzymatic destruction by an enzyme called monoamine oxidase) MAO). MAO inhibitors (MAOIs) inhibit MAO. By inhibiting the enzyme that breaks down serotonin, more serotonin is available to interact with serotonin receptors). None of these actions would decrease the manufacture of serotonin (and yes, I have considered presynaptic inhibitory feedback loops). It would make little sense if antidepressants decreased the ability of the brain to synthesize serotonin since the lack of serotonin (as discussed above) is an important cause of the depression being treated by the antidepressant! That thinking is simply illogical. Sorry.

Question: What causes serotonin levels in your body to drop? I'm curious because I recently have been dealing with anxiety and it was like someone just turned on a light switch in my body and it started, just instantly. I was wondering if it was something I was doing that caused this sudden drop in serotonin.

Answer: they have a website for everything... http://www.serotoninlevelsyndrome.com/serotonin-level/

Question: How to increase Serotonin and lower Testosterone levels? I (and others around me) have noticed that I have become increasingly hostile, aggressive and moody. I'm not sure why this is because I am generally a nice person however I think this may be due to low levels of Serotonin or high levels of Testosterone. I was just wondering if there is anything natural I can eat or drink or do that will increase and decrease these two? Thanks in advance.

Answer: You can increase Serotonin levels with exercise and diet. High protein foods Hard cheese, carbohydrate-rich meal, turkey, black eyed-peas, black and English walnuts, almonds, sesame or pumpkin seeds, and cheddar, gruyere or swiss cheese. Also helping to a lesser extent are whole grains, rice, and other dairy products . There is also breads, pastas, candy but they are not so good in other respects. High Serotonin Concentration Bananas Kiwi Pineapple Plantains Plums Tomatoes Moderate Serotonin Concentration Avocado Black Olives Broccoli Cantaloupe Cauliflower Dates Eggplant Figs Grapefruit Honeydew melon Spinach

Question: What are the odds of a person getting Serotonin Syndrome? I take a low dosage SSRI and am looking into other dopamine/serotonin supplements yet I am curious what are the realistic chances of Serotonin Syndrome? Thanks.

Answer: DO NOT self-prescribe! Talk this over with your doctor, first.